State Briefs 8/29/08

ROCKFORD – Two juveniles, ages 11 and 16, have been arrested on charges of robbery and mob action in connection to a string of attacks on homeless men this summer in the city’s downtown.

A 45-year-old man was on his bike on July 27 behind the Rockford Public Library when he was approached by four to five young males who pushed him to the ground and kicked him. The suspects took his bike and wallet and fled. The man was transported to an area hospital, where he was treated for minor head and leg injuries.

Several minutes later, a 20-year-old man was approached by the same group of young males. He was struck in the head and knocked to the ground. The suspects took his phone and wallet and fled on bikes.

Detectives from the Rockford Police Department and Rockford Park District, which had similar occurrences at the Riverview Ice House, developed suspects.

On Wednesday, the case facts were reviewed by the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office, which authorized charges. The juveniles were lodged in Juvenile Detention.

Rockford Register Star

State says education offices didn’t handle finances properly

GALESBURG – Two area Regional Offices of Education did not maintain proper internal controls over their finances in the 2007 fiscal year, according to reports released by Illinois Auditor General William Holland.

Knox County Regional Office of Education 33, headed by Regional Superintendent of Schools Bonnie Harris, was found to have one “material weakness” in its financial reports.

The auditors found that the office had not reported four items totaling $11,307 in accounts payable, two items totaling $1,287 in accounts receivable and no entries reconciling the office’s grant activities.

Henderson-Mercer-Warren Counties Regional Office of Education 27 also was found to have insufficient internal controls over its finances. Auditors said that the ROE did not keep an accounting of accounts receivable, accounts payable, deferred revenues or grant activities. In addition, two cash accounts were not included in the records, whereas two other cash accounts were duplicated.

Another material weakness found by the auditors was the use, on two occasions, of ROE credit cards for employees’ personal purchases. The purchases totaled $223 and the office was reimbursed within two months.

Four other material weaknesses were found, including not making proper reports to county boards, inadequate controls over property and equipment and not recording two bank accounts, totaling more than $13,000 in the general ledger.

Galesburg Register-Mail

Plea for man accused of two murders delayed

ROCKFORD – A 29-year-old Rockford man will return to court next month to discuss whether plea negotiations will continue in his murder case.

David Ramirez-Lucas is charged with several counts of murder stemming from the Dec. 9 deaths of two men and aggravated battery with a firearm for wounding three others at the El Tenampa Bar.

Ramirez-Lucas was in court Friday to discuss a possible plea agreement, but the decision was postponed to give both sides additional time to negotiate terms.

Herberto Mendez, 21, and Tomas I. Mora, 58, were shot and killed inside the bar as they tried to fight off Ramirez-Lucas, police said.

Witnesses told police that Ramirez-Lucas was kicked out of the bar that night but returned less than an hour later with a gun and opened fire.

Rockford Register Star

Man’s death ruled accidental drowning

PEKIN — The death of a Pekin man whose body was found in the Illinois River in June was ruled accidental by a Tazewell County coroner's jury Thursday.

Gregory L. Johnson, 32, had been drinking with people on the river at the foot of Court Street in Pekin and "trading punches" with them for alcohol.

Police said Johnson and others had mutually agreed to punch each other in the face while drinking together in the early morning hours of June 25.

At one point Johnson took off his sandals, emptied his pockets and began swimming in the river.

When Johnson didn't surface, his acquaintances tried unsuccessfully to rescue him. The Peoria County Underwater Rescue Team began searching for Johnson at 1:30 a.m. and recovered his body at about 9 a.m. that day.

Toxicology results said Johnson's blood-alcohol content was 0.169 percent. State law considers a person legally intoxicated with a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 percent.

No other substances were found in Johnson's blood.

The jury determined the cause of his death was drowning secondary to alcohol intoxication.

Journal Star, Peoria

Boy found after disappearing into cornfield

CHATHAM — The disappearance of an autistic 6-year-old into a cornfield at Community Park Thursday evening drew canine search teams from the Sangamon County Rescue Squad and Chatham firefighters.

A state helicopter was en route when the boy turned up about an hour later.

The boy, a Chatham resident, ran into the field about 6 p.m., closely pursued by his 19-year-old aunt. Both walked out of the approximately 1-mile-by-1-mile field shortly after 7 p.m., said Chatham Fire Chief Phil Schumer.

Four rescue squad teams, each consisting of one dog and three people, entered the more-than-head-high corn and began searching. Firefighters stayed out of the field so they wouldn’t interfere with the dogs.

Firefighters also put up their 95-foot aerial ladder, which served as a high vantage point that allowed them to see across a large area.

Bill Russell, deputy coordinator of the Sangamon County Office of Emergency Management, said the aunt and boy came out of the field between two of the search teams.